At 12.19 hours on 15 May 1943, U-607 fired a spread of two G7e torpedoes at the unescorted and neutral Irish Oak (Master E. Jones) and hit her under the bridge after 2 minutes 10 seconds. After the crew had abandoned ship, she was sunk by a coup de grâce from the stern torpedo tube at 13.31 hours. The day before the ship had been sighted and reported as neutral by U-650 (von Witzendorff), but Jeschonnek followed the Irish Oak since dawn and then decided to attack because he suspected the vessel to be a Q-ship, smoking in a very obvious manner and en route on a zigzag course at varying speeds. Later the same day, the Irish steam merchant Irish Plane rescued the survivors, one of them slightly wounded, after picking up her distress signal. The rescue operation was observed by U-336 (Hunger), which identified the ship as neutral and informed the other U-boats in the area.